Black TV ad attacks Boyd and Lee as ‘moderates’

Diane Black has become the first gubernatorial candidate to air a TV attack ad. It targets two of her fellow Republicans, Randy Boyd and Bill Lee, calling both of them moderates and depicting Black as the only conservative in the GOP primary. Beth Harwell isn’t mentioned.

Transcript:

“Diane Black, endorsed by the NRA. And she helped write Trump’s tax cut.

Is Diane Black “too conservative”? Randy Boyd says she is. But Randy Boyd also disavowed Donald Trump in 2016. Boyd even calls himself the “most hated political entity — a moderate.”

Bill Lee’s a moderate too. He pushed for a liberal Nashville Mayor who tried to make Nashville a sanctuary city.

This race is simple. Two Moderates or Conservative Diane Black.”

The Times Free Press report elaborates on some of the ad visuals and statements. For example, in declaring that Boyd disavowed Trump, the ad flashes a Nashville Post headline from June of 2016, which cited a CNN article on a Utah meeting hosted back in 2012 by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

The CNN story described Boyd as someone who had not been a long-time bundler of campaign funds but had raised money out of loyalty to Romney.”He is somebody I would aspire to be like,” Boyd was quoted saying of Romney. The article, which noted Boyd wasn’t raising money for Trump, quoted him saying “the idea of putting my name on anything is anathema to me.”

Boyd was not quoted by CNN nor in the Nashville Post article as specifically criticizing Trump.

Black’s ad takes a final swipe at Boyd, charging he supported a proposed 15 percent property tax increase proposal in Knox County, citing a 2012 article in the Knoxville Sentinel in which he described himself as a “moderate.”

The ad then turns its attention to Lee, saying “and Bill Lee’s a moderate too. He pushed for a Nashville mayor who tried to make Nashville a sanctuary city.”

The Tennessean report says the reference is to donating money to former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s 2015 mayoral campaign. While she was in office, the Metro Council considered briefly – then dropped — an ordinance that was depicted as making Nashville a sanctuary city.

Lee’s campaign spokesman, Chris Burger, said, “It’s not surprising Congresswoman Black is launching this desperate attack, it’s what career politicians do when their campaigns are failing. We’re confident Tennesseans will see through this.”

19 Responses to Black TV ad attacks Boyd and Lee as ‘moderates’

Nashville dropped the Sanctuary City status because the State Legislature blew up all over them. I was part of that push back effort, emailing Senator Briggs and Rep Dunn multiple times demanding action. The most recent Anti-Sanctuary City bill allowed to become law by Haslam was the direct result of Nashville’s futile attempts to circumvent the Tennessee law already in place. So, in fairness, Lee’s support of a true HRC clone (transplant of California, Berry) in Nashville was a horrible decision. And an illuminating one for those who wish he had a voting record to examine. Diane Black is dead on: let’s look at who Bill Lee has supported for political office through money and endorsements over the past 20 years. Who is happy with La Raza Randy’s $250,000 donation to Conexion America’s? What does that tell us about Randy, who has no voting record to examine, also?

Nashville dropped the sanctuary city status because the Nashville Legal Director opined that because of Tennessee’s 2009 Sanctuary City Law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly the two ordinances in question violated state law. Diane Black refused to sign on to the bill when she was a state senator. She did vote for the bill but so did just about every other republican or democrat.

That would be a great question to ask Diane, then. As to the law director and violating state law, HRC Nashville-version (Barry) was working diligently to find gray areas in the law to exploit. The Legislature acted and that effort was killed because of the voters of this state and their outrage. Not because of some law director who owed his job to a left wing democrat (again, Barry).

Again, read the legal directors opinion. The fact is the the sponsors of the two ordinances withdrew their legislation from third and final consideration ONLY after the Legal Directors Legal Opinion. The liberal members of the Nashville Metro Council and Mayor Barry had already proven themselves immune from the justifiable outrage of legislators and citizens. It was the Law that saved Tennessee.

This is all to the good for ANYBODY BUT BOYD voters. It would be better, however, if Diane was more precise in her criticism rather than lumping Boyd and Lee together.

Perhaps I can help. Boyd is indeed a self-identified centrist whose home is in the most liberal Bush/Romney wing of the Republican Party. Lee is a No Record Candidate rather than a “moderate.” Before deciding to try to buy the governorship, he has NO RECORD holding political office, NO RECORD advocating for conservative causes or candidates, and NO RECORD making significant contributions to conservative candidates. An almost complete political cipher who wants to buy the top political office in this state. How absurd. . .yet better than Boyd if you’re feelin’ lucky. Please sort it out voters so we ANYBODY BUT BOYD voters will know behind who to unify and vote.

So what you are saying is that you are just as comfortable electing someone to office as Governor of your state or U. S. Senator with absolutely no record in elective office as you are electing an Alderman of your city or Commissioner of your county with no record of holding elective office. As always, it’s in a sense of proportion that we differ.

BTW, just to be clear, if I ran for office I would not be a No Record Candidate though I never held elective office for I could would have numerous people in the Republican Party as well as these Responses and comments in The TN Star vouch for my conservative advocacy and any number of conservative candidates, if not endorse my candidacy, at least acknowledge my significant contributions to their campaign. It takes a special type of specimen with whom I can’t relate but who infuriates me who is well into middle age and who has hundreds of thousands of dollars to dump into his/her own campaign who comes to us as the conservative savior of us all but who not only has never held elective office, but can’t point to any, or hardly any, stinkin’ instances of prior conservative advocacy and/or significant contributions to our perennially underfunded conservative candidates. That’s a level of political indifference that makes for a No Record Candidate who, as far as I’m concerned disqualifies him/her from any high office if there is any reasonable alternative.

PLEASE!!!! I know I’m out of fashion and I don’t want to get into a discussion about it because its a moot point but I was a Cruz guy, I still believe Cruz would have made a much better President and I have ZERO confidence in Trump though, of course, he sure beats the Democratic alternative and I wish him the best.

Cruz? Does not surprise me one bit. Cruz is a graduate of the Aspen Institute, Council on Foreign Relations controlled. Heidi has connections with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and supports the North American Union.
Right up your alley!

Stuart, I was not for Trump in the primary either. But in many ways he is a breath of fresh air for the Republican Party. He is actually doing what he said he would do as a candidate. He has made some things happen, i.e. moving the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem , that no other Republican ever made happen. I think he will hit another home run on the Supreme Court as well. I have never cared for his persona, but he sure is fun to watch.

The Republican Party created Donald Trump. I was so disgusted with RINO’s I quit the Republican Party. And HRC was so disgusting a candidate that this Deplorable would have crawled through a 1/4 mile sewage line to have voted against her for anybody else. Not voting, or voting for someone with no chance to win, was not an option. In Tennessee we do not have a similar situation. We have a qualified candidate, electable, and a great paper trail for most of the items Conservatives deem important. There are no perfect Conservative candidates for this office. Vote Diane Black.

Trump is fun to watch Eddie, and I like you do not care for his persona, He has fulfilled many of his promises whereas the Republican conference in Congress with its centrist/tepid conservative majorities fulfill few of the planks in the Republican platform adopted during the 2016 convention.

I must say, however, that Trump is at his most tepid when it comes to his signature platform plank re: immigration. Time after time he seems willing to sign onto the “amnesty now; border enforcement later/maybe” legislation pushed by the U. S. Chamber/Business Round Table and their errand boys and girls in the Congress. Trump makes me nervous, he has a lack of deep conviction about many things in the same way as he can, late in life, transform himself from being a liberal Democrat while in New York to being a reasonably conservative Republican after deciding to run for office as a Republican.

I’ve been a conservative since I was 15 years old growing up in a very liberal community in a very liberal family. Lack of firm conviction always makes me nervous.

I had to read the story twice. Humphrey said she’s the first candidate to air a t.v. attack ad.
I’m kinda curious which campaign Humphrey is watching, ’cause Boyd was airing the flushing toilet months before Diane’s ad came out.